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A RAVINALA TOUR GUIDES ASSOCIATION’S OUTING ON THE PANGALANA CHANNEL

This article will serve you to learn about how do the three most active tourists guide associations (Taratra, A.G.T.T and Ravinala) of Tamataveto become a knowledgeable, competitive and to ameliorate their know-how and their good manners in front of the tourists who are going to pay the Eastern of Madagascar visit. I won’t never get bored to encourage you to come around here, because assuredly I say you will feel more satisfied than you expected. After having given you a chance to enjoy a few wonderful places which are all very rich in stories, many endemics species of plants and animals each, such as Foulpointe, Ivoloina Zoo and Vatomandry, I would like to invite you to learn more of the most recent activities of Ravinala tourists guide association along the Pangalane’s Channel. Do you think that is there any place in this world deserve to be named as an earth paradise? The answer is YES, here where it is, on the Pangalane Channel, the world of dream. And there we went, not only for admiring gasigasy sceneries but also in term of tourists guiding services; it converted us into a total perfection.Before starting, here is very neat important information about this splendid resort. It is a man-made channel which forms a very wonderful inland waterway on the East Coast of Madagascar. The Pangalane channel is 600 Kilometer long lagoon which is formed naturally by the washing of sand up on the island by the Indian Ocean currents and by silting of rivers, has been used both as a means of transportation come and back on the coast and indeed as a fishing area.

As the one of those three tourists guide associations of Tamatave, we, the Ravinala’sTourguidesmembers had a chance to update our knowledge on the Pangalane Channel resort until the famous Palmarium Park this last weekend. This channel was designed to facilitate the transportation of goods to the main trading port of Tamatave because shipping on the Indian Ocean was too dangerous. Until this time the channel still keeps a very high place in this region’s daily life because it provides the main source of trade, transport and travel as well. I would like to say that cruising by boat on the calm water of Pangalane is really fascinating journey. Many traditional Betsimisaraka villages, traditional dugout canoes, local fishermen, over-crowded ferries, and rafts with straw huts carrying timbers and/or other Tamatave’s needs can be seen on the way and surely gave us a new point of view of a real gasigasy life. As we are in a big group of tourists guides, we had to rent one bush boat called “Tongasoa Cruseur” which is certainly the much less expensive than the others. It’s true that it was very expensive for us but it is like a must as tourists guides. By the way we really enjoyed it with Maxim who is our boat driver. The Boats are generally safe, but very much overloaded. Just look at the picture bellow. We left fluvial port of Tamatave this last Saturday morning around 8:00 a.m and we already started our visit in Andranonkoditra, it is located only 5 minutes boat drive from Ankany Nofy, literally means dream’s nest (64 Km from Tamatave) where our final destination took place. In there, I mean Andranonkodotra; we already had a chance to visit the only one organic essential oils site and “La boutique de l’association Vonona Vohibola” where is the human and environment base site.It was amazing to see such this traditional village because it reminds me very much the village where I grew up. It’s called Antanambaobe just 20 Km from the city of Mananara-Nord. There where is my root, and I will come there one day for you my hometown. I love you!!!

Then we arrived into our end around 4:00 P.m in the same day. This last is the one of the best which kept secrets of Madagascar. On the shores of Ampitabe Lake, the palmarium is an incredible well run bungalow hotel. Each bungalow has a veranda and hammocks and Lake View as well. Only accessible by boat from either Manambato or Tamatave, the peace and tranquility are hard to find elsewhere. Am I right? I think so. Everybody is very welcoming to make our visit pleasant and note that two nights in here are surely not enough.

There are free and domesticated lemurs are playing around the bungalows courtyards. Imagine, there are sharing rooms with you. Don’t you feel in a full contact to the natures? A walk in the national park rewarded us to see ant touch with our own hands not less than 8 lemur species in two nights of camping such as: “Sifaka, Brown, Black, red, Sleeping, Bamboo, Crowned and black and white ruffed”, Leguane, and large variety of plants and trees. We didn’t success to see the Indri Indri but I can tell you that we really enjoyed our unique chance to discover what are in this channel.

Also what impressed me much is to see in my own eyes one of those two very famous species of Nepenthes which is only known in the name of Madagascar (Carnivore Plants). In Madagascar we have Nepenthes Madagascariensis, and Nepenthes Masoaliensis. We could find them nowhere else around the world except in my wonderful country Madagascar. I’m pretty proud to be Malagasy. We didn’t find the Masoaliensis one but we really enjoyed to see and touch at the same time the Nepenthes Madagascariensis. I was amazed to see it and I even brought its seedlings and planted in our courtyard. As you probably know also that Madagascar is the richest and has the most exciting orchid flora in the world. So we didn’t miss our chance to admire them too. Despite this latest cyclone on the East Coast of Madagascar, we rocked our outing. We had also a chance to meet one of the President Filbert Tsiranana’s bodyguard who is now 86 Years Old and his wife is 91 Years Old because we camped just in front of the Filbert Tsiranana camping’s houses during his period. Will you discover a real wild life?, Betsimisaraka traditional villages and cultures? Just an advice: “Come over here please”.To end this article, I will let you enjoy these two funny pictures of 4 of us. We were crossing this small stream on the way to discover the Nepenthes Madagascariensis because it is an aquatic plant. Life is even more beautiful if we enjoy it as it is. Don’t you see? Just look at us, personally I don’t have even one Ariary (Malagasy money) now in my pocket but I’m happy, we were happy. I was on Estelle’s back and she said that I’m too light for her and she could bring even two of me in a one day without having any rest. Lol. But Angenickel said the opposite to Ludger because Ludger weights around one hundred kilograms. Then he said: “this is my first time and it’s going to be the last.”